


Her Wake

by K_Hanna_Korossy



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-17 08:04:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5860792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/K_Hanna_Korossy/pseuds/K_Hanna_Korossy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tag to "Forever in a Day." Jack tries to help Daniel mourn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Her Wake

First published in _Foundations 6_ (2005)

 

_“…After searching what remained of the city, we were able to find several locations containing books and technological material. Jackson and Carter collected large samples of both to bring back to the SGC for further study…”_

“Okay, boys and girls, what’s wrong with that sentence?” Jack O’Neill muttered to himself, fingers pausing on the keyboard. He hadn’t even mentioned that Daniel had barely given the books a cursory glance, hadn’t tried to stall for time for study, that Jack even had to prod him to pack up a few more volumes than Daniel would otherwise have chosen to bring back.

Jack shook his head and kept writing.

_“…On the return to the Stargate, we encountered a single Goa’uld glider coming over a hill, apparently on patrol. Not seeing the ship until it was close, we sustained heavy fire, but Teal’c was finally able to shoot the enemy ship down with his staff weapon. Carter was injured during the attack, spraining her ankle (see attached Injury Report)…”_

Jack leaned back in his chair with a huff. “Not seeing the ship until it was close,” he read under his breath bitterly. “Yeah, that sounds good.” Making a face, he deleted the word “finally.” No need to emphasize that Teal’c, usually their first warning system, had totally missed the death glider’s approach until it was on top of them and they were under fire.

Jack gave a sharp curse and rubbed both hands over his eyes. Military reports were a necessary evil; he got that. It didn’t help they had to be written a certain way, either, namely dry and repetitive. Harder still was checking himself as he wrote to make sure he wasn’t inadvertently giving Kinsey and his gang of merry civilian backstabbers ammo to shoot the SGC down again. But when on top of all that he had to be careful not to let it show just how off their game his team was…

And that part was only his fault.

Jack leaned forward to reread his last few lines, tapping a pen idly against the desktop as he did. Yeah, it sounded okay. Hammond might pick up on a few things, but those above him never would, and that was what mattered. The general already knew there were problems. It was pretty unavoidable when one member of your team had to kill the wife of another in order to save him.

Daniel had gotten bereavement leave, of course, which he’d spent on Abydos with Sha’re’s family. It looked like it had done him good, too, and he’d returned saying he was ready to work. Jack had taken him at his word, and they’d left for the Goa’uld-ravaged P2S-339 two days later.

And…it wasn’t like Daniel didn’t seem ready to return. He wasn’t blowing up at anybody, he wasn’t distracted—well, any more than he ever was—he wasn’t making stupid mistakes. In fact, Jack couldn’t remember the last time Daniel had obeyed an order as quickly as when Jack had yelled for him to take cover when the glider had begun its strafing run. Nope, no reason at all to pull him off the team and send him back home. In fact, from the way Daniel’s car never seemed to budge from the same parking spot in the lot above, Jack guessed home was the last place he wanted to go. He could understand that.

But things had changed, his team off-kilter. Daniel’s curiosity had waned, the books they’d salvaged on the mission barely keeping his attention. When he talked, it was in muted tones, and mostly to Jack and Sam. He didn’t even look at Teal’c, and the Jaffa studiously avoided him, too, also appearing withdrawn, disinterested. Daniel’s grief Jack could understand; it would take time to work through the loss, and the joy would take even longer to return to his eyes. But Teal’c was also suffering in his own stoic Jaffa way, and Daniel and Teal’c were only making each other worse. Under other circumstances, Jack would have one of them reassigned to another team, but that wouldn’t work here. SG-1 was family, and you didn’t exile a family member because he wasn’t getting along with another one. No, this had to be handled in-house, by him. His team, his responsibility.

If only he had a clue what to do.

Jack made a face and sent the pen skipping over the desktop to fall off the other side and roll into some dark corner. He’d known his people for three years now, been killed, resurrected, tortured, and celebrated with them. He knew them better than he knew himself. And still he had no idea what to do. Wasn’t like he could get Teal’c and Daniel to sit down together and talk it out, work through it, was it? Yeah, right, when Jaffa flew. None of the three of them were too big on that baring-your-soul garbage.

Chewing on his lip, Jack pulled out his top drawer, rummaging through the junk in it, then moved on to the drawer below it. Had to be there somewhere….Ah. He pulled out the small framed picture and held it in ginger hands. Sara and he hadn’t had the kind of relationship Daniel and Sha’re did, not for a long time now. But if something had happened to her, too, if Kawalsky or Ferretti or Daniel had needed to kill her in order to save Jack, could he ever look them in the eye again? Forgive them, maybe, but forgetting…how could anyone do that?

Jack winced. Didn’t exactly bode well for his team, then, did it? And that was what it kept coming back to. Usually he was all for giving people space to work out their own problems, stepping in only when it was needed, like Daniel’s utter lostness when Sha’re had first been taken. But when it affected the team, that was Jack’s job.

Which led back to the question again: what was he going to do about it?

The picture he propped gently on the corner of his desk. Sometimes it was good to have it there, sometimes it was too painful, especially since the divorce. But at least he knew Sara was still out in the world, safe, maybe even happy, if not with him. Daniel didn’t have that anymore. He’d barely had a chance to say good-bye, unless you counted those weird hallucinations he talked about, nor a grave to visit. Even the funeral was all ritual and ceremony instead of a real closure. In the O’Neill clan, every funeral had been followed by a grand wake, a time of tears and reminisces and healing for the bereaved, which softened the blow of death even for a young Jack O’Neill. It was one of the reasons he’d thrown one for Daniel after…

Jack hand’s froze around the ball of paper he’d been absently rolling between his palms. A wake. A time to share without pressure, of nameless support, of sharing the burden, and no sit-downs or heart-to-hearts involved. Best medicine he could think of for a grieving archaeologist. Maybe even a hurting Jaffa and a battered team.

“Perfect,” Jack declared to the room at large, and pushed back from his desk to stand. Oh, wait, save the report first—the mission to P2S-339 was what it was, a wake-up call they’d been lucky to survive—then he strode out of the office, toward Daniel’s down the hall.

So how was he going to do this? _“Hey, I had an idea.”_ No, Daniel would get that frown between his eyebrows he always did when Jack had an idea. _“Listen, I was thinking—”_ Nope. They all knew nothing good ever came of that. _“If you’re not doing anything tomorrow night…”_ Smooth. If he wanted a date. _“I know things have been kinda tough lately—”_ Jack groaned. He sounded like the hundred or so well-wishers he hadn’t wanted to talk to after Charlie’s funeral.

And then he was standing in front of Daniel’s office door.

Jack paused, then shrugged and knocked quietly. Since when had he ever practiced something to say to his best friend?

The door opened, Daniel’s expression of mild surprise framed in the gap.

“Jack?”

“Daniel,” he answered pleasantly. “You got a minute?”

“Uh…sure.” And yet he stood there between the door and the frame, blocking the way.

“Can I come in?” Jack asked patiently.

“What? Oh. Sure, yes.” The door swung wider, and Daniel stepped back.

A chair was quickly cleaned off for him, but one of the pieces of rock Daniel picked up from it caught his attention, and he moved over to the bookcases on the opposite side of the room, quietly muttering as he compared the rock to what looked like an identical piece of rock. That led to Daniel putting both rocks down and reaching for a fat, faded book on the bottom shelf, which he then paged through, lips still moving in some quiet monologue.

Jack watched with one eyebrow raised in silent amusement. Apparently whatever disinterest had plagued the archaeologist on their last mission was gone, at least temporarily. The flame of passion was rekindled in the man’s face.

And then he caught the muttered word, “Kheb.”

Jack sighed. Passion was good, obsession wasn’t. He hated to think Daniel’s interest had been reduced to one single-minded mission now, one Jack wasn’t sure he even believed in yet. And in the meantime, would their non-Goa’uld-baby related missions be like the one they’d just been on, uncomfortable and muted?

Oh, he didn’t think so. Which reminded him of why he was there in the first place.

“Daniel?”

“Jack,” came the distracted answer. It was like their own little game of Marco Polo, a reminder the other was there.

“Great, now that we know who we both are, can we have that talk?”

Daniel’s head came up, a frown of suspicion just beginning to crease his forehead. “Talk?”

“Did I say talk?” Jack asked lightly. “I meant chat. You know, how you doin’, how’s work, what did you think of the game last night?”

“Jack.” The word was a sigh, and the book closed. “If this is about Sha’re—”

“No, it’s not about Sha’re,” Jack defensively shot back. A fractional pause and he cocked his head. “But now that you mention it…”

“I’m doing okay, all right?” Daniel plopped the book on a different shelf with less care than he usually showed his old references and moved around the desk to his chair. Which was also covered in stuff—Jack had no idea where the man actually _worked_ —requiring another clean-up. “I appreciate you asking, but I just need…I just need some time.” He swept hair out of his face with a gesture more of stress than habit.

“I know,” Jack answered quietly. “Believe me, I know. And I’m not trying to rush you, Daniel. But…well, you know my dad’s side of the family is Irish, right?”

A blink of utter bafflement. “Excuse me?”

“Irish. O’Neill—Irish? St. Patrick’s day, leprechauns, ‘top o’ the mornin’ to ya’?”

“The Rosetta Stone—yes, I get it. You’ve never talked much about it, but okay, you’re family’s Irish.” Daniel looked stuck between impatience and confusion.

Jack found another pen to play with, flipping it end-on-end between his fingers. “Well, the Irish have this tradition: when someone dies, you hold a…wake.”

“A wake,” Daniel repeated uncertainly.

“Right. It’s like a party—”

“I know what a wake is, Jack. But you’re—are you suggesting we hold a wake for Sha’re?”

Jack peeked up to see what his friend’s expression was. Back to pure perplexity. That wasn’t so bad. “Well, actually…yeah.”

Daniel sank down on his chair, ignoring the few papers still on the seat. “Sha’re’s not Irish,” he said blankly.

“Yeah, I kinda figured that. Doesn’t matter—works for family and friends. We, uh, threw you a wake when we thought you were dead back on that water planet with the Creature from the Black—”

“Jack, I…” Daniel shook his head. “I appreciate the thought, I really…but I’m just not ready to…sit around and talk about my…my wife and how she…” He blinked again. Several times in fact. Hard.

Aw, geez, he hadn’t wanted to do that. Jack straightened up, talking urgently now. “Daniel, it doesn’t have to be a big deal. Just sitting around, shooting the breeze with friends. Maybe have a few drinks to memories. I’ll bring the beer.”

Daniel’s eyes were glued to the pen still clutched in Jack’s hand, but he seemed to be looking at something else all together. “Do you even realize how few people on this planet even _met_ Sha’re? Or even knew I was married? Jenny down in the cafeteria asked me out on a date a few months ago, Jack. She still won’t look at me since then. They all think I’m some kind of moody crackpot, obsessed with my…rocks and books…” A helpless hand encompassed the disaster of a room.

Jack leaned forward, stretching to catch Daniel’s gaze. “I said ‘friends,’ Daniel. Those of us who knew her, too. Doesn’t have to be anybody else’s business.”

Daniel looked at him for a long naked moment, and if Jack had any illusions about how well the man was moving on from his loss, they ended there. But there was strength in those eyes, too, and a very quiet gratitude. “I’ll be okay,” he finally said softly.

“No reason to do it the hard way, Danny,” Jack said in return. There was also Teal’c to consider, the team…but this moment was fragile, Daniel’s strength spread thin as it was. One wound at a time. Besides, Jack had a feeling Daniel healing would be the best medicine for Teal’c, too.

Daniel finally shook his head slowly, but his mouth twitched, the worst past now. “Look, I’ll…I’ll think about it, okay?”  

“Promise?” Jack held up a finger.

“I promise.”

Jack finally grinned. “Good.” He stood. “I’ll let you get back to your…ruins, then.”

Daniel followed his glance around the room, nose wrinkling slightly at the mess he hadn’t seemed to notice before. Jack was almost at the door before the man seemed to realize he was leaving, and Daniel quietly said from behind him, “Thanks.”

He didn’t turn, just lifted a hand in the air in a half-wave, then was out the door.

Jack’s grin faded in the empty corridor. Oh, yeah, definitely hurting. Managing, dealing pretty well, actually, but very much hurting. Some of that had to be rubbing off on Teal’c, too, and there went half Jack’s team right there. No wonder they were all stumbling along. If this didn’t work, he’d probably have to ask Hammond to ground them again until they got back on track, and Jack would be back to that clueless square one again.

But he had no intention of letting this mission fail. No man left behind, right? That wasn’t just in enemy territory.

Jack turned and headed with firm step toward the science labs. No time left to waste; he had a co-conspirator to enlist, then a wake to plan.

He had a lot riding on this one.

 

“So…Teal’c. You ever played pool before?”

“I have not.”

“Ever seen a pool table before?”

“Never.”

He wasn’t even getting a raised eyebrow for his troubles. Jack made a hopeful face. “Ever heard about the game?”

“No.”

The answers were getting shorter, too. Not a good sign. Jack sighed faintly and motioned to the bartender for another beer. The bottle was slid in front of him, and he took a long drag from it. The tension inside him didn’t ease a bit. He turned to look around the dim room. “They’re late.”

“They are not.”

“No?” He glanced back at the Jaffa.

“You requested Major Carter’s presence at 8:30. It is now only 8:26.”

Jack’s own eyebrow went up. “You wearing that watch I gave you?”

That earned him a very small smile as Teal’c slid up his right sleeve fractionally to reveal the watch in question. Not that a Jaffa needed one, Jack knew, but a gift was a gift, and he gave his friend a pleased smile. “Looks good on ya.”

“Indeed.” Teal’c turned back to the glass of apple juice he was nursing.

Jack made a face as he scanned the room again. This had better work, or he’d be losing two friends and teammates, not just one.

The door opened and a blonde in a black leather jacket came inside, barely hindered by the crutches she was using. Both eyebrows went up when Jack realized it was his 2IC, followed by a more hunched figure in worn brown leather that looked like something Indiana Jones would wear. Not that Daniel would have appreciated the comparison. Jack raised a hand in a wave, catching Carter’s attention, who touched Daniel’s shoulder and pointed. A few moments later they were bunched by the bar, standing in awkward silence.

“So…fancy meeting all of you here.”

Deafening silence. Daniel looked pained, Carter like she’d bitten something sour. Teal’c just looked like Teal’c.

Jack hitched up a phony smile and gave his fellow planner a pointed look. “ _Anybody_ hungry?”

Carter finally found her brightest expression. “I am. I hear the burgers are great here.”

Finally. “So they are.” Jack waved a hand of invitation toward the back of the room, falling into step with Carter in the rear as Daniel and Teal’c automatically started moving and lowering his voice. “Any trouble getting him here?”

“Nothing a little threatening with a zat gun couldn’t handle, sir,” she answered wryly under her breath.

“Really? I only had to give Teal’c the grouchy face-thing.”

The edge of Carter’s mouth twitched. “You have a grouchy face, sir?”

“Forget the ‘sir’ tonight, Carter—this is time off. And, yeah, I can look grouchy. I’ve been told it’s very…intimidating.”

Carter giggled. Jack made a face. Then sobered.

“Thanks for getting him here, Carter.”

“I hope this helps, too, sir.”

“You and me both,” Jack muttered, then rubbed his hands together as they reached their goal. “Okay, campers, here’s the deal. We’ve got the room for the evening: darts, pool, drinks—you name it.”

Daniel looked around the back room, then turned to give Jack a suspicious frown. Teal’c was less obvious, clasping his hands behind his back neutrally. Not an easy crowd. But then, Jack hadn’t really thought this would be easy.

“If you all aren’t hungry yet, how ’bout we start with some pool?” Jack suggested cheerfully.

Daniel and Teal’c traded a glance—interesting—and then slowly pulled their jackets off, Daniel automatically reaching out to hold Carter’s crutches while she did the same.

“I do not know how to play this game.”

“It’s actually pretty simple, Teal’c—it’s all based on geometric figures and calculations. You calculate the angles…”

Daniel took advantage of Sam’s lecture to Teal’c to sidle up to Jack and ask quietly, “I thought this was just going to be dinner out, the four of us?”

Jack gave him a look of pure innocence. “We’re out, we’re having dinner, four of us, right?”

“So…this isn’t the wake then.”

“Does it matter?” Jack asked seriously. “If you wanna talk about Sha’re, we’ll listen.”

“I didn’t say I wanted…this.”

“Getting together with your team after hours?”

“No, I mean… _this._ ”

“Daniel,” Jack said gently. “It’s dinner. Some relaxing, a little time off—don’t make a bigger deal out of it than it is. If it gets uncomfortable, say something and we’ll stop.” He paused. “Unless it’s because you’re losing. That doesn’t count.”

Daniel stared at him for a few hard seconds, then finally softened in acceptance. “All right. But you know, Jack, I was on this excavation in Algiers once for a few months where the only entertainment in the evenings was a pool table. I got pretty good at it.”

Jack grinned. “You wanna put your money where your mouth is?”

As it turned out, Daniel wasn’t the only one who was good at it. Carter really did play like a mathematician, her shots uninspired but predictably successful even while standing on one foot. Teal’c, as it turned out, got the hang of the game awfully fast and must have been doing his own calculations because he was soon giving Carter a run for her money with his power-driven style: balls went in because he didn’t give them a choice. Daniel lived up to his promise and played the most thoughtful game Jack had ever seen, sometimes giving a shot several minutes of consideration before sinking it. Figured, coming from a guy who peeled the tape off his gifts before unwrapping them. Which left Jack to be the wild one, trying for the shots that were unlikely at best and making about half of them out of sheer audacity. Only way to play, in his book. But it made for pretty fierce competition.

“O’Neill, I do not think this angle will be effective.”

“I don’t wanna hear it, Teal’c.”

Carter whispered something to Daniel and got a small grin in return. Jack glowered at them and made the shot. Close…but a miss.

“Did I not say—”

“Didn’t _I_ say I didn’t want to hear it?”            

Teal’c lifted his chin, politely scornful, and went silent. Well, at least he wasn’t withdrawing.

“They actually have a game similar to this on Abydos. I used to play it with…” Daniel stopped like he’d run into a wall, ducked his head, and finished feebly before going silent. “…Sha’re.”

Jack’s eye ticked. “Carter,” he said loudly, “if you lose your balance and sprain your other ankle, we’re gonna have to go to that planet—uh, what was it, Teal’c?”

“There are many planets in the—”

“Never mind. The one with all the gadgets—without you.”

“Yes, sir. I’m sure you’ll figure out the technology just fine on your own, Colonel.”

Darn it, she was smirking. Jack made an elaborate face at her, checking Daniel’s reaction as he did. In fact, all of them were pretending not to be watching Daniel as he stood still for a long moment in introspective silence. And then finally took a breath, visibly collecting himself before stepping up next to Carter for his turn. Jack nodded in silent approval, and gave Daniel’s shoulder a squeeze as he stepped past Jack. For all his lack of military training, Daniel Jackson had guts.

But Teal’c was watching him hardest of all, and there was a thoughtful look in his eye that made Jack wonder.

Carter won by one game and didn’t stop grinning for a long time after. Daniel and Teal’c took defeat well, even giving each other a commiserating glance, which gave their whipped CO some consolation. The point of the evening hadn’t been to beat his team, after all. That wasn’t how a good team leader earned his respect.

That was what Jack kept reminding himself of, anyway.

“I don’t know about you all, but I’m ready for that burger now,” he said as he put his cue stick back into the rack. He gave the group a glance and saw Carter doing the same.

“I could eat,” Daniel answered, distracted, still replaying the last shot in his head as he studied the table.

Teal’c just nodded.

Jack smiled at Carter, and passed out the menus.

Surprise, surprise: everyone wanted something different. Daniel’s order of fish-and-chips was unusual, Teal’c’s of two turkey sandwiches, not so much. Carter got a burger but drowned it in bleu cheese sauce, which made Jack shudder. A fat medium-rare burger piled high with trimmings and a mess of greasy fries was his idea of heaven. And when Daniel started playing with his food halfway through his dinner, Jack stole a few fries from him, too, pushing the younger man into an indignation that had him quickly eating the rest to keep them from also being pilfered. Unexpectedly, it was in Teal’c’s eyes Jack saw a glimmer of amused recognition of that tactic. Better and better.

Teal’c ordered ice cream—six servings of it—and the rest of them sat back to nurse their beers and enjoy the company.

“I guess they don’t have anything like ice cream on Chulak, huh?” Jack asked lazily, watching the fourth empty bowl join the pile of the first three.

“They do not. On Chulak there is no method of cooling that allows for the storage of such chilled foods.” A slight smile of memory. “As a child, however, I and the other young Jaffa would break portions of the frozen lake to melt in our mouths. It was…pleasurable.”

“Fun,” Daniel murmured. Jack tried not to look surprised. That was probably the first thing Daniel had remotely said to Teal’c since…well, since. From the look in Teal’c’s eyes, he felt the same way.

“Indeed.”

Sam was smiling at her own memories. “We used to do that with fresh snow. One time my mom even gave us some fruit juice to put on it, like homemade snow cones. Mark does it with his kids now.”

Jack glanced around the table, noting the bittersweet expressions. None of them had painless pasts, did they? Maybe it was one of the things that had pulled them together. If they could weather this crisis, it would make them stronger, too, for the shared experience, not fragmented.

He cleared his throat gently. “Daniel, what did you guys do for ice on Abydos?”

The archaeologist already seemed to be there, the answer coming absently and without surprise at the question. “There’s no ice on a desert planet, Jack. I tried to explain it to them, but they just couldn’t grasp the idea of solid water. Sha’re thought…” Daniel’s smile faded, and when he glanced up self-consciously a moment later, his eyes avoided Teal’c.

Oh, no, he was not letting Jackson do this all night. “What?” Jack prompted as if he hadn’t noticed. “She thought you were telling more of your tall stories?” he asked with a clueless grin.

A hesitation, and then he saw Daniel steel himself. “No…she thought it was the work of our gods. Even after we defeated Ra, it took her a long time to accept that most of the other gods out there were Goa’uld fakes, too.”

“But you changed her mind,” Carter took her turn.

“She trusted me. In the long run, that was always what it came down to. She trusted me,” Daniel finished softly.

Silence. Awkward at first, then, slowly, something gentler. Carter reached out a hand to put on Daniel’s arm, and he gave her a weak smile. “I’m sorry.” That was directed at all of them, his gaze skimming Teal’c again. “I just…I don’t know what to say.”

Jack hesitated a moment, then nodded at Daniel. “What was the wedding like?”

Daniel frowned at him. “The wedding?”

“Yeah. I missed it, remember? They do the whole ‘I do’ thing on Abydos?”

“Well…sort of. Actually, it’s more like you say something if you don’t want to get married. Sha’re…” He barely paused. “…almost fainted when I asked her a question.” There, that looked like it had hardly hurt. There was even a distant smile on his face. “She was a beautiful bride. She wore these blue flowers in her hair—they grow them just for…”

Jack glanced across the table at Carter, catching her eye. She dimpled at him ever so slightly. Oh, yeah, he did good work. Teal’c…Jack sobered. Okay, so they still had a way to go. One wound at a time.

Two beers later, Daniel finally ran out of steam and fell silent, eyes moist and emotions just about played out. Carter gave Jack a look and he concurred. That was enough for one time, especially the first time. The dam had cracked, and that was actually a lot more already than he’d dared hoped for.

He let the lull stretch, giving them all a chance to collect themselves and let the conversation settle, then pushed himself up in his chair and gave his team a languid smile. “So, anyone up for beating Carter at darts?”

“I am.”

“Yes, please,” came the chorus from Teal’c and Daniel. They gave each other a tiredly wary look, but no evil eyes, at least. Jack was grateful for small favors.

“Cool,” he grinned, and went to get the darts.

Carter had no mathematical theories for darts, thank God, and Daniel hadn’t practiced up on the game at some dig, which left only Jack, champion dart-thrower in his Academy days, and Teal’c with his uncanny sense of aim, to compete seriously. Daniel and Carter soon bowed out to root for them, Daniel quiet but firm on his side, Carter diplomatically backing Teal’c. Jack wondered briefly if the roles would have been reversed a few weeks before, then gave it up. He’d never been great at what-ifs.

Teal’c won the first round, but not by a lot. Jack started the second one: three bull’s-eyes out of five. Not bad. He gave Teal’c a smug smile, getting only an imperiously self-assured look in return. Teal’c had a wickedly dry sense of humor under all that Jaffa stoicism—who would’ve guessed it when they’d first met on Chulak?

Jack stepped aside, letting Teal’c move up to the line. The Jaffa took his place and threw a smooth arc. Bull’s-eye. Jack tried not to wince. Apparently, Teal’c had gotten his second wind because two more bull’s-eyes followed the first. So much for the champion. Maybe a bribe of ice cream…

Teal’c aimed the fourth dart, then suddenly stopped. And turned with unusual hesitation to Daniel, offering the dart on his open palm with a slight bob of the head.

Daniel’s face colored as he gave first the dart, then Teal’c a flustered look. Jack held his breath, and saw Carter doing the same on Teal’c’s other side. “I—I’m not very good at this, Teal’c,” Daniel finally stumbled through an answer, eyes never resting long on the Jaffa’s face.

Teal’c accepted that with grace, bowing and pulling his hand back. He took his place again at the throw line, gauging his target before taking almost casual aim.

“Wait.”

Jack had been the only one who hadn’t looked away from Daniel, seeing the struggle in his face, the deliberate effort it took to speak up. And the relief in his eyes when he finally did.

Teal’c paused, one eyebrow canted up, face tilted back toward Daniel.

Daniel reached out slowly and took the dart from Teal’c’s loose grasp. “Thank you, Teal’c,” he said quietly.

Another silent incline of the head was the only answer.

Jack gave them both a sloppy grin. “Did I mention loser of this round picks up the bill for tonight?” Twin mutinous glances were sent his way, and it was all he could do not to bounce on the ball’s of his feet as he put up his hands defensively. “Just kidding.”

Man, that had felt good.

Daniel took his place on the throw line, then his face screwed up in concentration. A few practice swings, and he threw.

Just outside the bull’s-eye. Daniel’s face fell, and he turned to Teal’c with disappointment.

“I’m sorry.”

“There is no need. The attempt is what is of importance. I am certain Major Carter and O’Neill would concur.” A sidelong glance at Jack, and for the first time he saw his friend’s pain, for a brief moment.

Jack silently nodded once.

“No…” Daniel was examining the dart with the care he usually gave his rocks. “What matters—what’s supposed to matter—is your intentions. Even if the end result isn’t what you expected or hoped, or even wanted…” He closed his eyes a moment while Jack held his breath. “I know that. Sometimes I just…forget it, but…I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while now—I still believe that.” Daniel looked back up at Teal’c with a failing smile.

But the Jaffa searched deeper for a long moment, and seemed to finally find what he was looking for. As deeply touched as Jack had ever seen him, he bowed to Daniel.

Daniel looked like he wanted to say more, but it wasn’t coming. Well, Jack patted his shoulder, he hadn’t expected them to become best buddies after one evening of letting their hair…er, or whatever it was Teal’c let hang down. It was still one heckuva big step, more than one wound starting to heal that night. Figured. Every time Jack got mad at Daniel for doing something stupid, the civilian turned around and made Jack proud fit to burst. But as long as the two kids were talking again and not looking like they’d rather be on separate planets, they’d eventually work things out, Jack was sure of it. And they always knew his door was open, too. He’d even stocked the refrigerator with beer.

Speaking of which, there was still some left in his mug, and Jack hefted it, giving each member of his team a hard look: Carter smiling softly, Daniel worn thin but what was inside shining through, and Teal’c looking like he’d learned that day the real character of those whose side he’d joined years before. No, sir, not a bad team at all. “I’d like to propose a toast.”

Carter got the old Academy drill, scooping up her own mug with a grin. “Propose a toast, sir.”

“To a classy lady we’ll never forget, and those she left behind.”

Daniel was chewing on his lip hard, not meeting Jack’s eyes, but he lifted his glass. Teal’c did, too, his eyes only on Jack. They touched glasses, repeating the words in a murmur, and drank silent remembrances.

Jack gave them a minute, then finally cleared his throat. Everything had been said that needed saying, some of it even out loud, and emotions were running a little too close to the surface now for his taste, even for a wake. The quietest wake he’d ever attended, actually, but then again, when had they done things the usual way?

He had their attention again, and Jack arched his eyebrows, nodding at the dart Daniel still had folded in his hand. “So, last shot—who’s gonna take it?”

Teal’c and Daniel looked at each other, then turned as one to look at Carter, whose eyebrows climbed into her hair. “Oh, I don’t think—”

“Sure, gang up on your CO. Come on, Carter, might as well join in—I can beat the three of you combined.”

Which was, as he’d expected, just what it would take to light the fire under his competitive major. The challenge gleamed in her eye and she took the dart Daniel offered, and hopped into place in front of the board. Carter flicked Jack a mischievous glance before taking careful aim.

And let the dart fly.

The End


End file.
